


The Years

by RedStarFiction



Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 07:11:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12007680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedStarFiction/pseuds/RedStarFiction





	The Years

I could smell the change on the breeze; it was the scent of wood-smoke, roasting corn harvested in huge batches that left the landscape looking paler and more open. It was the salty tang of curing meat and the sweet aroma of liquid honey. The wind stirred the chime that hung from the porch, a birthday present from Jem and Mandy made with pretty pebbles and pieces of driftwood found by the lake. The pieces clacked together and gently rapped at the shutters Jamie had installed so painstakingly at my request to protect my potted seedlings from the harsh mid-day glare of North Carolina sun.

Autumn was coming and with it the chill that would turn into a bone aching cold come winter and the first snows. I glanced upward at the trees and smiled at the softly yellowing tones of the leaves, not yet ready to give up their summer greenery completely. Much like myself I supposed looking down at my hands, no longer the hands of a young woman – actually they appeared to me to be far older than seemed possible. Then again, with the approach of Autumn came the approach of my birthday and I reasoned that once each birthday feels a little like a triumph, one is allowed a little time to dwell on the advance of old age.

Jamie would turn seventy in May. Seventy. Somehow that startled me more than my own impending birthday and I clutched my scarf to my chest as the wind lifted my hair, closing my eyes and letting the memories the movement stirred wash over me.

I was so lost down memory lane that for a moment I thought the hands on my waist were all in my head. It was only when lips kissed my jaw and the fingers tightened that I realised he was actually behind me.

“Away wi’ the faeries are ye, Sassenach?”

“I was.”

“A good place?”

I hummed agreement low in my throat and leant back against the solid planes of his chest.

“Should I leave ye be?”

“No.”

I shook my head and turned in his arms, cupping is face between my hands and tiptoeing to press my lips lightly to his own. His kiss was soft and warm and I tasted chestnuts on his breath. I smoothed my thumbs over his cheekbones and traced the shell of his ears, suddenly aware of the hot lump of coal which seemed to have taken residence in my throat, making it hard to speak as my eyes misted over.

“Ach, lass. What’s amiss?”

“You’re getting old.”

I sniffed and Jamie’s lip quirked upwards, quickly spreading into a wide smile

“I’m already auld, Sassenach! Ye are no spring chicken yeself, ken?”

I snorted and then buried my face in his shoulder, utterly overcome.

“Och! Claire, mo chridhe, I didna mean to insult ye!”

Jamie’s voice was heavy with guilt and I hastily shook my head, pulling back to look up at him and wiping my eyes impatiently.

“No, I just … oh bloody hell! I’m a doddering old fool!”

Jamie clucked his tongue against his teeth and carefully mopped my face with his handkerchief, relinquishing it into my hands so I could sufficiently blow my nose.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“Tis Autumn, ye always get a little … sensitive.”

“Do I?”

Genuinely startled I stuffed his hankie into my own pocket and allowed his hands on my shoulders to turn me carefully back around to face the woods beyond our home.

“Aye, ye see the yellowing trees and the smell of smoke and harvest and ye begin to … ah … feel our years a little more, ken? Am I right?”

I nodded, amazed as always by his intuition.

“Aye, so,”

Jamie moved to stand beside me, his arm around my waist and gestured beyond the oak and chestnut trees, toward the pines and firs higher up on the ridge, their forest of green rising out of the yellowing trees.

“The reason I dinna feel so myself is that I ken ye are an evergreen soul, mo graidhe. Ye will never wilt, nor fade and I will stand in your shadow, awed by your resilience and beauty until I am a hundred years old and if I may, a hundred years more than that.”

He kissed the crown of my head and cocked his head to the side

“I told ye once that it has always been forever for me Sassenach, and I meant it.”

I smiled shakily and nodded

“Forever just seems to be catching up with us a little bit too quickly though.”

“No,”

Jamie gave me a lopsided smile and shook his head

“Those are just the years, lass. Forever is Brianna and the bairns and their families yet to come. It is this plot of land, tilled and cultivated and lived on. It is our vows made before God, and his knowledge of our love. Those are the forever things.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too. Always.”

I nodded and threaded my fingers through his, the warmth radiating from his palm into mine a reassuring promise. The years would have their way but not yet, not just yet.


End file.
